Top-ranked Spartans cruise to first-round win
November 10, 2010
NEW — 2 p.m. Nov. 10, 2010
The Skyline High School girls soccer team moved into the top spot of this week’s National Soccer Coaches Association of America rankings. Then Tuesday, the Spartans validated their status with a 5-0 victory against visiting Mount Rainier in the first round of the Class 4A state tournament.
Skyline, vying for a third straight 4A state title, hosts KingCo Conference rival Woodinville on Saturday in the quarterfinals.
The Spartans, 17-0-0, blasted Mount Rainier for three first-half goals.
Junior forward Michelle Bretl scored her first high-school hat track. She has four goals in the postseason and leads the Spartans with 15 goals for the season.
Madi Barney headed a Maddie Christ cornerkick into the net to put the Spartans ahead 1-0 at 10:30. Bretl, assisted by Makenzie Malsam, scored her first goal 30 seconds later. Bretl knocked in a penalty kick at the 30th minute to give Skyline a 3-0 halftime lead.
Liberty wins first district title to qualify for state
November 2, 2010
Liberty girls’ cross country team members run with other 3A Sea-King District teams Oct. 28 at Lower Woodland Park. The Patriots took the team title with 78 points, with Aimee Christensen, Megan Chucka, Rachel Shaw, Allie Wood and Amy Broska packed within four seconds of each other in the top 20. By Michael Smith
A promise is a promise. Liberty High School cross country coach Michael Smith kept his Oct. 28 after the Patriots’ girls team captured the 3A Sea-King District title.
Maywood student picked for Youth All-American Bowl
October 29, 2010
NEW — 12:05 p.m. Oct. 29, 2010
Cody Baker, an eighth-grader from Issaquah, has been selected to play in the 2011 Eastbay Youth All-American Bowl Jan. 9 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
A special jersey presentation is scheduled for halftime Friday at the Liberty High School football game. The game starts at 7 p.m.
Baker will play defensive end for the West team in the eighth-grade, no-weight-limit game. Currently, the Maywood Middle School student plays for the 5 Star Cougars of the Greater Eastside Junior Football Association. Baker began playing football in 2006 at age 9 and he is also a basketball and baseball player.
Pitting the nation’s top seventh- and eighth-graders against each another in an all-star format, the Eastbay Youth All-American Bowl brings together the top youth talent in the nation.
The bowl will be webcast live at Football University and here.
Patriots advance to district championships
October 26, 2010
Junior Tyler Westenbroek (left) and senior Scott Turner lead the Liberty boys team in the KingCo 3A Conference championships at Lake Sammamish State Park Oct. 21. They finished 10th and 11th, respectively. By Tim Pfarr
Thanks to strong performances at the 3A KingCo Conference championships at Lake Sammamish State Park Oct. 21, the Liberty High School girls and boys cross country teams advanced to the district championships, which will be at Green Lake in Seattle Oct. 28.
Liberty High School captures girls soccer title
October 22, 2010
NEW — 1:15 p.m. Oct. 22, 2010
Kiana Hafferty scored seven minutes in the second overtime Thursday to give the Liberty High School girls soccer team a 3-2 triumph against Juanita in a 3A/2A KingCo Conference battle. With the victory, Liberty, 10-0-2, clinched the league championship.
Whitney Cain, assisted by Hafferty, scored Liberty’s first goal at the fifth minute. Kimi Fry scored the Patriots’ second goal at the 10th minute. Liberty held a 2-1 lead at halftime.
The Patriots’ next game is Oct. 26 at home against Mercer Island.
Issaquah volleyball team overcomes Eastlake
October 19, 2010
The unbeaten Issaquah High School volleyball team overcame an upset-minded Eastlake squad Oct. 13 to win the 4A KingCo Conference match 3-1.
Eastlake entered the match at Issaquah having just one league victory. However, the Wolves gave Issaquah a tough time in two of the games.
Issaquah won the first game 25-15, but Eastlake took the second game 25-23. The Eagles held off Eastlake 28-26 in the third game and wrapped up the match by winning the fourth game 25-15.
Sarah Hanna led Issaquah with 28 kills, 18 digs and four aces. Sam Rogers contributed 13 kills and three blocks. Setter Riley Sorenson had 61 assists and 13 digs. Libero Alexa Batiquin had 20 digs.
Liberty High Schools girls race to another win
October 14, 2010
NEW — 1:30 p.m. Oct. 14, 2010
The Liberty High School girls cross country team placed seven runners among the top 10 finishers Wednesday to gallop away to an easy victory in a 3A/2A KingCo Conference meet at Mercer Island’s Luther Burbank Park.
Amy Broska, of Liberty, finished first in the 3.1-mile race in 19 minutes, 16 seconds. Teammate Megan Chucka was a close third in 19:18. Allie Wood, Michaela Chucka and Rachel Shaw, all of Liberty, finished fifth, sixth and seventh respectively. Aimee Christenson was ninth and Megan Larson took 10th for the Patriots.
Liberty took first place with 22 points. Host Mercer Island was third with 43 points and Mount Si ended up third with 70 points.
Unbeaten Eagles spike another volleyball victory
October 7, 2010
NEW — 12:15 p.m. Oct. 7, 2010
Rachel Roeder had 24 kills and 10 digs Wednesday as she led the unbeaten Issaquah High School volleyball team to a 3-1 4A KingCo Conference victory against rival Skyline.
Issaquah won the first game 25-13 but Skyline fought back to take the second game 25-17. The Eagles captured the third game 25-6 and wrapped up the match by winning the fourth game 25-20.
The Eagles, coming off a big victory earlier in the week against Woodinville, again had a strong all-around team effort. Sarah Hanna contributed 20 kills and three blocks. Riley Sorenson had 48 assists and five aces. Sam Rogers’ serving led to a seven aces and Alexa Batiquin had 12 digs.
Issaquah improved its league-leading record to 5-0 and season mark to 8-0.
Maddie Magee had 11 kills, Andrea Chon had 14 digs and Madison Stoa had 19 assists for Skyline, which is 1-4 in league and 4-5 on the season.
Ellensburg runner wins Rotary 5K race
October 5, 2010
Joe Sheeran, of Ellensburg, was all smiles after winning the 5K race at the Oct. 3 Issaquah Rotary Run. Sheeran finished the race in 16 minutes, 17 seconds. By Greg Farrar
If you have to finish second in a race, it might as well be to a national champion.
Liberty High School cross country coach Michael Smith came up a few seconds short of winning the 5K race at the Oct. 3 Issaquah Rotary Run at Salmon Days.
Smith finished the race in a respectable time of 16 minutes, 52 seconds. However, the winner was Joe Sheeran, of Ellensburg, who crossed the finish line in 16:17.
Sheeran is not your regular recreational runner. He is one of the top masters’ level cross country runners in the nation. Last fall, he won the 8,000 meter title at the USA Track and Field National Championships in the 50-54 age division at Spokane in a time of 27:08. His time was the third best age-graded performance in the entire competition.
Smith has run against Sheeran before at meets in the Pacific Northwest.
“We’ve raced a few times in the past two years. He was fast last year, but he’s even faster this year,” Smith said of Sheeran, a member of Club Northwest.
Sheeran, 52, is a former All-American in track and field and cross country at Eastern Illinois University, where he holds numerous records. He later served in the U.S. Air Force and in 1983, won the bronze medal at the World Military Cross Country Championships. In 1987, Sheeran decided to stop competitive running. He didn’t race for 20 years. After he and his wife moved to Ellensburg, Sheeran resumed racing again.
Issaquah’s runners leave Juanita in the dust
September 28, 2010
Cross country roundup
The Liberty High School girls cross country team has been used to being left in the dust of opponents in past seasons. However, Sept. 22, the Patriots left an opponent in the dust.
Liberty had a perfect score, meaning the team captured the top five places, in beating Juanita 15-50 in a 3A/2A KingCo Conference meet at Kirkland’s Kamiakin Junior High.
“As far as I know, it’s the first time we’ve had a perfect score,” Liberty coach Michael Smith said. “It’s happened to us more than once.”
Megan Chucka led the Patriots by finishing first in the 3.1-mile race in 21 minutes, 28 seconds. Teammate Liz Ryker was second in 21:39. Right behind them were Rachel Shaw, third; Allie Wood, fourth; and Amy Broska fifth. The Patriots also took the next three places with Michaela Chucka, sixth; Megan Larson, seventh; and Aimee Christenson, eighth.
“I’m very pleased with the way the girls ran. I think they are happy with their performance as well,” Smith said.
Liberty showed more depth with Ida Bakke taking 11th, Shayla Anderson 12th, Kaily Davies 13th and Victoria Hoffman 14th.
“All the girls are running pretty closely in times,” Smith said. “It could be a real dogfight for our top spots before the season is over.”
With some runners still not hitting their stride, the Liberty girls team figures to get stronger throughout the season and could be a title contender at the league championship meet next month.
Smith credits assistant coach Lisa Knoblich, who was a standout runner in high school and college, with making the girls team stronger.
“If the girls can keep up with her, they will do great this season,” Smith said.
The Liberty boys were also victorious Sept. 22 by defeating Juanita 25-32.
Senior Scott Turner, of Liberty, finished first in the boys race in 17:20. It was his first win ever in cross country.
“Scott wanted it so badly. There was no way he was going to let a Juanita guy beat him,” Smith said.
Teammate Nick Knoblich, son of the girls coach, was third in 17:43. Five other Liberty runners cracked the top 10 – Chris Turner, fifth, Tyler Westenbroek, seventh, Hiron Redman, eighth, Jared Bales, ninth, and Riley Mackey, 10th.
Eagles finish second
In a 4A KingCo Conference meet Sept. 21 at Redmond’s Marymoor Park, the Issaquah boys were nipped by Roosevelt 32-33. Woodinville was third with 61 points. However, Issaquah’s Turner Wiley and Isaac Robinson finished first and second. Wiley had a winning time of 16:10 and Robinson was close behind at 16:11.
Woodinville won the girls meet with 22 points. Issaquah was second with 45 and Roosevelt third with 55. Nicole Migotsky was Issaquah’s top placer, finishing fifth in 20:28.
Spartans sixth at Nike
The Skyline boys team finished sixth Sept. 25 at the prestigious Nike Pre-Nationals in Portland. The Spartans had 262 points. Keegan Symmes was Skyline’s top placer, taking 17th in 16:04.33. Kyle Branch was 36th in 16:23.10.
The Skyline girls were 10th with 273 points. Jordan Branch was Skyline’s top placer, finishing 36th in 19:51.49. Anastasia Kosykh, of Eastlake, was seventh in 18:45.29.
